Art Los Angeles Contemporary

Booth D16

Barker Hangar, Santa Monica

February 25 - 28, 2018

Press Release

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is very pleased to announce its participation in Art Los Angeles Contemporary 2018, featuring new paintings by Josh Reames and new video paintings by Federico Solmi, to be presented from January 25-28, 2018 with an opening reception on Thursday, January 25th, 2018 from 7:00 to 9:00pm. Both Reames and Solmi address the current political landscape in their recent works, challenging the viewer to reflect on history by using satire to portray dystopian visions of our present day society.

New York-based Josh Reames’ recent 2017 exhibition at the gallery, Don’t cross streams while trading horses, featured a new body of work that marked a departure from his post-digital explorations of advertising and communication. Returning to his roots as a printmaker interested in the dissemination of information via the “free press,” Reames paints icons and objects from the history of revolutionary political satire mixed with the golden age of American advertising. These symbols of American history and commerce are interrupted by trompe l’oeil burns—a radical gesture that suggests the destruction of myth and explores the power that images can hold.

Federico Solmi, an Italian artist currently living in New York, is as irreverent and political as his works. Solmi creates video-paintings in hand painted frames that are extravagant, rowdy, and ironic, showing us a grotesque version of the display of wealth and power that we regularly encounter through media. Solmi uses images culled from the video-game industry, pop culture, and the Internet, and collages them with a historical influence to produce original artworks. The result is a unique hand-made texture within a real-time 3D framework. Solmi’s newest video-paintings feature Donald Trump gallivanting with past and present world rulers, the newest member of the authoritarian regime.